Inmate wins damages after jail beating
A federal judge has ordered a former Miller County sheriff and two others to pay damages to an inmate beaten by other inmates in 2008.
Former Sheriff Linda Rambo, former warden Janice Nickelson and former guard Jimmy Ballard must pay $5,000 jointly in compensatory damages to Michael Lynn Williams, according to an order signed March 25 by U.S. District Judge Susan Hickey.
The order adopts recommendations from U.S. Magistrate Judge Erin Setzer.
Rambo, Nickelson and Ballard are also jointly liable for the $350 Williams paid to file the lawsuit.
Ballard must pay Williams an additional $5,000 in punitive damages meant to “deter him, as well as other correctional officers, from such unconscionable conduct in the future,” Setzer’s report and recommendations state.
Williams filed his suit pro se, meaning he represented himself. He complained about beatings he suffered at the hands of other inmates Sept. 20, 2008, while the Miller County Detention Center was under Rambo’s control, and March 5, 2009, when current Sheriff Ron Stovall had been in office about two months.
Williams knew he was in danger of being physically assaulted because two inmates had threatened him in days before the Sept. 20 assault, according to Setzer’s report.
Williams and a family member attempted to make Rambo and jail staff members aware of the threats to Williams, but nothing was done, the report said.
“The evidence presented in this case is sufficient to establish that Williams was incarcerated under conditions posing a substantial risk of serious harm. The testimony indicates the [jail] staff were not in control of the [jail]. Inmates could open their own cell and pod doors, and come and go through a hole in the roof of the [jail]; guards were letting inmates out of their cells and pods; contraband was coming into the [jail] through the hole in the roof and also through guards; and the [jail] cameras and panic buttons were not functional.”
Setzer’s report states jail staff members “had no training and policy and procedures to follow, or were unsupervised and allowed to disregard their training and jail policy and procedures.
“The atmosphere at the [jail] during the times at issue here was both chaotic and unsafe subjecting Williams to conditions posing a substantial risk of serious harm.”
Setzer’s report notes that the court found Williams’ testimony credible and testimony from Ballard not credible.
“On Sept. 20, 2008, Ballard radioed to have EPod door opened and then stood by and allowed [Williams’ chief assailant] and other inmates to enter E-Pod. Ballard also did not intervene when [the chief assailant] and the other inmates attacked Williams,” Setzer’s report states.
“Based on this evidence, it is clear that Ballard was aware that [the chief assailant] had previously threatened Williams when Ballard opened E-Pod door and allowed [the
Setzer’s report states jail staff members “had no training and policy and procedures to follow, or were unsupervised and allowed to disregard their training and jail policy and procedures.”
assailant] and the other inmates into E-Pod. Further, the fact that Ballard then stood by and allowed [the chief assailant] and the other inmates to attack Williams allows the court to infer it was Ballard’s intention, in opening the door, to allow Williams to be attacked.”
Setzer found that Rambo and Nickelson should have acted to protect Williams from the unsafe environment at the jail.
“Rambo was aware the inmates were jamming the pod doors with toothpicks and toothbrushes to stop the doors from locking. According to Rambo, if an inmate wanted to get out of his pod, he could do so,” the report states.
“Nickleson … knew her officers were allowing inmates to escape through the roof of the [Miller County Detention Center] and were also bringing contraband into the [jail]. She also knew inmates were jamming the locks on their cell doors. Further, given the totality of the evidence presented, the court cannot credit Nickleson’s testimony that she had no knowledge that inmates were getting out of their pods/ cells on their own or her assertion that the cameras worked in the [jail].”
Williams sued Stovall and staff members hired by Stovall when he took over the jail Jan. 1, 2009, for the March 5, 2009, assault.
Unlike the 2008 assault, Williams had no warning and was not threatened with an attack before the 2009 assault. In the 2009 assault, Williams and another inmate exchanged words over a dominoes game, and the other inmate attacked Williams.
“Sheriff Stovall testified that in January 2009, when he took control of the [jail], the inmates had destroyed the [jail]. The cameras were not functioning, there was no security on the windows and the inmates could unlock the cells doors. Additionally, there was a hole in the [jail] roof that inmates used to exit the [jail], obtain contraband and return to the [jail]. Finally, [jail] staff were also bringing in contraband,” the report states.
“The Federal Bureau of Prisons and the State Board of Corrections had to be involved to clean up the [jail]. According to Sheriff Stovall, his team worked in ‘crisis mode’ seven days a week during this time to get the [jail] cleaned up. There has been a 100 percent turnover of staff at the [jail] since Sheriff Stovall took control.”
The report states that Stovall and his staff members were working long days to gain control of the jail, actively purging the jail of staff members who were engaging in criminal conduct.